A Sunday Hike in Eagle River

After Christmas shopping on Saturday, Sunday was definitely a day to get outside again.  We've been wanting to go for a long hike again, and between schedules and weather, it had been weeks since we'd been up in the mountains.  Lance & Mary, our former landlords, went with us to the South Fork Trail in Eagle River and up the trail to Hanging Valley.  It's about 2 miles to the bridge along a fairly flat trail with some up and down - then more climbing for the next approximately 2 miles up to the Hanging Valley.

The sun was out, the sky was blue (in some directions anyway!), and it took us about 4 hours to finish. Brian and I had done most of this hike twice, but we never allowed enough time to go all of the way.
We were able to go most of the way without Katoolahs, but once we started climbing more, they made for a much more comfortable hike.   You can see that once we got up higher, there was more snow.

Hard to believe that we'll be in Mexico in 9 days!  Conference time for Judy, and Brian's going too.  And before that, Thanksgiving with Mary and Lance and a special treat -- Van's Caesar Salad class on Saturday at The Marx Brother's Cafe -- with 5 white wines to taste!  Then Mon - Wed and work and late, late Wed night - or early Thursday morning - we fly out, back on the 12th.

Oh, and I forgot!  Brian and I are signed up to do the Turkey Trot, a 5k race on Thanksgiving morning - the first one for me in more than a decade!  Wish us luck!

A Busy November

Wow-How could it have been this long without posting?!  And, it's not been busy with what I usually like to post, which is pictures of us outdoors hiking, biking, and (sniff, sniff) skiing, which is usually front and center by now!  Nope, not this year - it's been in the 30s and low 40s and not a snowflake to be seen in November - rain, yes.  Ice, yes.  No snow. We surely have been enjoying our house though and the gas fireplace that Brian put in to replace the standard fireplace that these town homes were built with.

More moose - it turns out the moose are around our new home a LOT!  Brian went to pull out of the driveway the other day and there was a moose right in back of him in the road.  We had a speaker here early in November for a keynote at UAA - came for dinner and couldn't get out of the car because there were two moose alongside of his car - he got great pictures for his family though!


We're looking forward to a trip to Mexico for a Year End Course with Landmark Wisdom Division, our first time going.  Landmark is a high performance training and development company, and what I bring back from these conferences always empowers my life and my work in unique and highly effective ways -- and with fun, play and ease - I can't wait!  But SKIING -- I need you! (This picture is from Sheep Mountain, 3 years ago - at Thanksgiving - just a few days away now!)

November also was a month (and part of October) that I participated in a Health & Fitness Challenge, and I lost 9 lbs. as a part of that -- and got more regular with my gym workouts.  The busy-ness of the last 2 weeks or so has presented a challenge again for the workouts, but the weight has been stable, and I'm out to lose another 3 lbs. and then maintain!

Last night we got ourselves out of the house at 8:30 pm - no easy feat, as we sometimes go to bed by 9:30 or even 9:00 - for the first tap of the Nouveau Beaujolais at Crush!

The guy in the funny hat "delivered" the cask, which was tapped and then drawn out with free wine for everyone in the place!

We enjoyed a glass, though it was getting late -- but it was fun all the same!